Massachuset home

Until the year 1619, the land that is today the eastern half of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was part of a great Algonquian tribal federation called the Massachuset. The Massachuset tribes were Eastern Woodland people and their ancestors occupied these lands for more than 12,000 years.

Sadly, little is known about the Massachuset Federation or its people. First contact with Europeans devastated their population with disease, war, internment, starvation, and slavery. Severe oppression forced their language and customs underground and eventually into extinction.

We do know that the Massachuset were a courageous and resilient people.

This website serves as a memorial to the Massachuset, a lost people -- nearly forgotten by history. We bring you their stories to honor them. We celebrate their perseverance by sharing with you their heroic struggle for survival.

May the lessons we have learned from the story of the Massachuset echo through the ages.